True Strengths
by dragonturtle0
Summary: It takes a lot for people to become strong. Mostly it takes growth and gaining understanding of ones true strengths. Few things can be this important for the survival of Remnants future defenders. With a new professor and new friends pitching in to help them they should do just fine. If they had the time to develop these strengths that is. M for gore and language later on.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: the following is fan-based fiction. RWBY belongs to the late Monty Oum and RoosterTeeth. Please support the official release.

Note from the author: due to recent hate epidemics in other fandoms the management would like to point out if you don't like it don't post hate, leave. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter one: hiring

Ozpin pov

It was nearing dusk as Ozpin sat at the desk in his office, repeating the same conversation he'd been having with his right hand all day. Thirty times they'd discussed this and thirty times his answer had been the same followed by thirty insistences from Glynda that Ozpins standards were too high. By this point he'd run out of coffee and was instead drinking water from his cup, a dire sign of his untiring commitment to the task at hand.

"Sir, I simply fail to see how this previous candidate, or any of our previous candidates, were not adequate for the position."

"That's just it," he sighed, his tone somehow more even as he went on "they were only adequate. I will settle for nothing less than a genius, Glynda. WE owe our students that much when selecting new staff members."

Glynda rolled her eyes at his reply, but Ozpin could tell she knew he was right. He'd never get upset with her over her outward skepticism. He knew he was lucky to have her help running Beacon. The most skilled of his former students, Glynda had proven to also be a great ally, a great professor here at Beacon and the only person at Beacon who not only criticized him (only person who questioned his every decision was more like it) but whose critiques he took seriously. Her questioning of him had always been what kept him more grounded in his actions than in the past.

Now, however, nothing would make him settle for less than the best person in all of Remnant to become Beacons new instructor for the tactics class. If the person teaching the team leaders was less than the best then his students would only be able to get second rate instructions in one of the most crucial of leader only courses. At a school such as Beacon, where students were literally training for life or death, that was an unacceptable boost to future mortality rates. He knew Glynda understood this, just as she knew he understood how impossible this task could turn out to be. Knowing the odds had never stopped him in his arrogant youth, though, nor would it stop him today, but for entirely different reasons.

After a minute of silence Glynda finally spoke up again and Ozpin could hear the worry in her voice, telling him how exhausted she was pretending not to be.

"Professor Ozpin, the sun has set and tomorrow is the beginning of the week. If we don't do something there will be no one to teach the tactics class. Even If it's just a temporary stand in we need someone assigned to that class tonight so they may prepare for tomorrows class TONIGHT."

Before Ozpin could reply a loud beep from his desktop computer alerted him to a priority message. **_Holo computers_** , he thought as he accessed his terminal, wish ** _we had these as kids._**

He read the message on the screen:

Dear Ozpin,

I have heard about your recent opening and wish to send a promising candidate your way. I know it's not within my power to formally aide you, but I feel as you do that Beacons students deserve the best of the best in the way of instructors. I should warn you, though, this guy's past is a little strange. Never the less he comes highly recommend as a tactician by myself, the queen, my generals and the Dragon Knight. Test him yourself and see.

Signed, King Roderique III

p.s. this message may come after he gets there, sorry.

Ozpin finished the message just as there was a knock at his office door.

"Very punctual," he chuckled, amused. He began spinning his chair around as he said "Come in!"

He heard the door open as the new candidate entered the room. He then heard the door close followed by the newcomer's footsteps. Just by listening to them Ozpin was able to tell that they belonged to someone who was six foot eight walking in a relaxed yet guarded posture. An imposing figure, to be sure. With that Ozpin decided to turn around and greet this newcomer.

"Greetings," he said mid turn "and welcome to Beacon."

The man standing before him was as tall as Ozpin predicted, six nine, with broad shoulders standing with attentiveness yet confident and relaxed all the same. He wore a long white coat that accentuated his slightly muscular figure with a black collar embroidered with gold designs and similar cuffs at the end of each sleeve. His pants were black and comfortable looking and he had black boots that went up to just under mid shin. The man's hair was a bright yellow blonde that had been combed back under the straps to his mask. That was the odd thing about this stranger, his mask. Gold with a mouth that was half smiling half frowning and two eye holes that revealed eyes of the most familiar shade of blue. Ozpin began to seriously wonder where he'd seen those eyes before when their owner responded to his greeting.

"Thank you, Headmaster." His voice was deep and masculine while soft and slightly smooth. There was enough confidence and charisma in those three words to make Ozpin feel completely reassured in his presence. "I hope this day has found you well, sir."

Ozpin glanced at Glynda to see her reaction to the man before them to see her blushing. Wait. Backup. Glynda? Serious and judgmental (it's how she shows she cares) Glynda was blushing. Glynda, who never blushes and always maintains a serious expression was blushing.

...

First time for anything... Ozpin kept up his poker face as he threw off the shock. Back to business, he decided.

"Quite well, thank you. So you're applying for the open position of tactical instruction, yes?"

"Yes"

"Do you have any letters of recommendation or a resume?"

`"Letters, yes. Unfortunately I lack a proper resume." he replied as he handed six letters to Ozpin, who placed them in a desk drawer.

"No matter, I hate looking at resumes. So then mister- uh?"

"Where are my manners? My name is Gilded Arcadia." as he said it, Gilded bowed slightly to Ozpin.

"A pleasure Mr. Arcadia. Now please, before we continue with the interview I would like you to play a game of chess with me." Ozpin proceeded to pull the chess board on the left hand corner to the center. Them he gestured to the seat across from him and said "Please, have a seat Mr. Arcadia."

"Thank you."

"Might I ask where you're from? You seem strangely familiar."

"I'm from a Valean border town, just a few miles southwest of the walls in one of the gaps I'm the mountain range. As for the familiarity, we've met before, but one could argue that this is our first meeting."

"Truly? Well at any rate, let the game begin."

Four moves later, Gilded had Ozpin in checkmate.

"... let's play another round."

Four games later, four more losses for Ozpin. Even with his first move advantage from playing as the white side- wait a second.

"You're using my first move advantage against me aren't you?"

"Heh, guilty."

"..."

Ozpin looked at Glynda and saw the shock in her face. He really didn't get that, after all, this is what they'd been looking for. However, if the interview was going to continue Ozpin needed to know more about their applicant. Only two ways to get that.

"If you wish to continue testing me please continue. Five games of chess are a difficult indicator of competence."

"In due time, I think I'll read those letters know."

"Of course, surprises can be a nasty things after all."

"Too true." That's when Ozpin decided screw the letters, this guy was hired. Mindreading? A no brainer quality.

"I don't read minds."

"That remains to be seen." As he said that Ozpin was pulling the first letter, King Roderiques, out of its envelope, best be safe and read these before any more surprises… too late.

"Is this letter a joke?

"Deathly serious I'm afraid. Even deadlier true."

"I'm afraid I have a hard time believing that you're…" Ozpin just stopped and looked at Glynda, who looked confused at the recent exchange, and back to the letters.

"Glynda, I believe I can handle this from here, you may leave. You've been working since before dawn anyways." Ozpin got up and started guiding Glynda to the door.

"But Professor Ozpin-" Glynda started to protest.

"No buts. You've already missed lunch on my account I won't have you miss dinner too. Go eat, drink and sleep. No use ruining your health when we're almost done here." Ozpin finally managed to get Glynda out the door, despite her attempts to protest, and shut it. Then he turned and walked back to his desk and saw that it was already dark out. How the time flies when you're being thrashed in chess and continually surprised. He sat back at his desk and addressed Gilded.

"It's just you and me now, Mr. Arcadia. No Glynda and no lies. Is what the king stated in his letter true?"

"Yes."

"Prove it."

Gilded hesitated, but then removed his mask. Ozpin was taken aback by what he saw. After a few minutes of silence, trying to come up with a different solution for what he had seen Ozpin finally said:

"Well, that certainly does prove something. Now doesn't it?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: New teacher on the block

Next Day

Jaunes pov

Jaune had woken up to a message on his scroll. After the whole Grimm-Train tunnel incident, he was more aware of every message and call. This however was just a class notification saying to make sure he knew the rules of chess before tactics class. Huh, guess they had gotten someone new to teach the class over the weekend. Jaune wasn't worried. His father and grandfather had hammered the rules of the game into his head at a young age. It was the only time his father had been able to make for him growing. Jaune shook his head and decided to start getting ready for class. He grabbed a spare change of clothes and was first in the shower, because his team was still asleep.

That was something he hadn't expected. Leading a team certainly wasn't what he'd seen himself doing when he first came to Beacon. He often wondered if Ozpin had been doing drugs the day he made Jaune the leader of his own team, or if this was Ozpins idea of a joke at his expense or something. Probably the worst idea that came to Jaunes mind was that Ozpin had figured out his secret. Besides his fake transcripts Jaune had another secret, one that he hadn't told his team or anyone else. The deception tied into the fake transcripts thing, as it would be a dead giveaway, but after the truth about the transcripts came out he had kept this secret because, well, he thought it no longer mattered.

Suddenly there was a loud knock at the bathroom door that startled Jaune, causing him to jump.

"JAUNE! I NEED THE BATHROOM!" Nora shouted from the other side.

Jaune just sighed. He then finished his shower quickly, dried off and got dressed. Then he exited the bathroom to find Nora waiting outside the door. He stepped aside for her and after she bolted inside and slammed the door shut he turned to greet his other teammates who had also woken up while he was in the shower.

"Morning Pyrrha."

"Morning Jaune."

"Morning Ren."

"Morning Jaune."

After that they all went about getting ready for class. Forty-Five minutes later, after they had all gotten ready they left together for breakfast. Left the room together that is. They had not gotten more than five feet away when Nora had grabbed Ren by the arm and dragged him away as fast as she could, leaving Jaune and Pyrrha to walk together… alone… together…

 ** _Alright don't panic,_** Jaune thought to himself. In truth, he was already panicking. Him and Pyrrha had always been good friends, he had thought. At the dance they had pushed the boundaries of their friendship and Jaune had no idea where that had left them. Worse, he didn't know what to think about how Pyrrha had felt about it. Worse STILL, if that was even possible, was that he was nervous about asking her. The walk to the cafeteria together, alone together, was bringing these thoughts to the very front of his mind, fogging up his thoughts until Pyrrha finally snapped him out of it with a simple:

"So, do you think your tactics class has a new professor yet?"

"I think so, I mean," Jaune had never been so happy to participate in small talk. "I got a message this morning about the class saying to brush up on my chess knowledge, so maybe."

"Did you brush up?"

"No need, my dad and granddad played a lot of chess with me growing up. In fact it was the only time I saw my Dad outside of dinner time…" Jaune stopped abruptly, unsure of why he had even brought that last bit up.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Pyrrha said sympathetically. "That's the first time you've talked about your father or grandfather. Um… what are they like? If you don't mind that is, I'm sorry if I was prying or …"

"I don't mind," he assured her. "My dad is all business. He's serious about everything and always busy but when we really needed him he's always been there to talk or something. His duties had been keeping him busier than ever before when I left home. His father, my granddad, served in the Kings Army."

"Really?" Pyrrha looked surprised.

"Is that so shocking," Jaune said.

"Kind of." Pyrrha replied, she looked intrigued at the idea of Jaunes Granddad in the Kings Army. "The Royal family carries no power in Mistral. They certainly have no power to raise an army."

"Well its different here in Vale. The Valean King may have no political power and little say in what new laws come into existence, but he does have the responsibility of ensuring that the people of Vale are safe from enemy threats, like the Grimm or foreign invaders."

"So he keeps a standing army? And no one objects?" she asked, sounding a little skeptical.

"Yeah. Since Vales founding seven millennia ago the Kings of Vale have always served the peoples need for defense. Our current King, Roderique III, is also really loved by the people. Most people on the streets and most of the nobility agree with him over the council on many things. He's actually gotten the public opinion to overturn one of the councils past decisions."

"That's frightening, Jaune." Pyrrha looked shocked at what she had just heard. "That he can use a mob of people to usurp the government is just frightening."

"It's not like that. He's a great guy." Jaune corrected her, realizing how it sounded to her. "This happened like ten years ago and he stopped a catastrophe."

"How?"

"Well, my dad told me about how eleven years ago the council passed a new tax law. Everyone hated it because was financially destroying people left and right. The Council refused to repeal the law, however, and there was rioting over the decision. Before things could get further out of hand King Roderique and his wife, Queen Maylis, went before the people and Roderique was able to talk them down for the most part. Then the Queen convinced everyone to use peaceful demonstrations to protest the law. A lot of demonstrations in fact, to the point no one was at work and the kingdoms economy shut down, almost."

"That is correct Mr. Arc."

Jaune and Pyrrha both shouted and jumped apart to find Professor Oobleck behind them. He was drinking from his coffee mug and looking expectedly at Jaune.

"Glad to see you finally showing an aptitude for history, Mr. Arc. Please continue." Their history professor said and then hastily took huge sip of coffee.

"Uh well," Jaune was a bit nervous in front of Professor Oobleck but continued regardless "Then, when people started getting on board with this plan more and more the nobles started supporting peaceful demonstrations, because the people on their lands were suffering. After six months of protests under this new strategy the council caved and changed the law."

"Correct again, Mr. Arc. Good to know you'll pass that section when we get there. Please do pay attention during the next the sections." And with that Professor Oobleck sped off like a green and white blur, leaving Jaune still a little shocked while Pyrrha looked at him approvingly.

"I think I impressed him Pyrrha." Jaunes heart was still beating a mile a minute as he said it. Then the pair turned and saw that they were in front of the cafeteria.

"Let's go grab something," Pyrrha said and the two went to get food and join their friends.

Ruby Pov

"Chess sucks!" Ruby cried out after losing to Weiss for the tenth time. Weiss just looked at her crossly from across the table. "Well it does!"

Weiss had been teaching her to play after she received a message about learning the game for her tactics class. Ruby had originally thought that it'd be a fun game to play. Oh how wrong she'd been. Not only was the game difficult to learn but difficult to play. Memorizing which pieces could move in which patterns was difficult, everything about this game was difficult.

"Calm down, sis." Yang said. "You've only been at it for an hour. I'm sure you'll get it eventually."

"But class is in an hour, Yang!" Ruby cried out, throwing her arms in the air for dramatic effect. "There's no way I'll understand this game before then."

She slumped down in her seat, face first into the table thinking about how unfair this was. Why did her tactics class have to learn this? What did this have to do with strategy and leadership and stuff? She picked her head up and looked around the table. Her team, team SSSN and Ren and Nora were situated around her, having conversations and eating. Just as she was about to ask Weiss for another run through of the rules she was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Having trouble Red Rubles?

Ruby turned around to see Aurelio Connors, leader of first year Team AAAN (Anne), standing right behind her, grinning and looking down at her with his arms folded. Even with a scar going straight across his neck and an eye path obscuring the upper corner right hand side of his face he looked very carefree. His blonde, messy hair was pulled back into a pony tail and his left eye glowed a light sky blue.

"The game of chess is being mean to me!" she cried doing another overly dramatic hand gesture. Then she pointed at him with her left hand at him. "And don't call me that."

"Heh heh, over the top as always. 'Sup, Sun. You're not cramming for class?"

Did he just say she was "over the top" then focus on someone else in the same breath? Ruby would not stand for that. In retaliation she stuck her tongue out at Aurelio and blew a raspberry at him. She was not happy when he responded by pat her head and messing up her hair. She was then mortified when everyone at the table laughed at the action. She scowled at him and nocked his hand away. Then she said through gritted teeth.

"Quit treating me like a child."

"Quit acting like one."

"Oh ha-ha, real original," Ruby replied, grinning and folding her arms.

"Ahem," Ruby looked to see Weiss glaring at her pointing at the chess board on the table between them. "I thought we were gonna get some work done for your class, not make small talk with scoundrels."

"Alright, Weiss. Let's get back to stupid chess," Ruby grimaced, not looking forward to class today.

Aurelio, who had sat down next to Ren, chimed in saying, "Why don't you ask Jaune for help with the rules of the game?" Weiss laughed openly at this.

"I think Jaune is gonna have a hard enough time learning from Pyrrha."

"Actually, Weiss, Jaune's been playing for years and I'll thank you to not insult my leader."

Pyrrha and Jaune had arrived with plates of food and were sitting down at the table. Pyrrha looked a little upset and was giving Weiss an irritated look. Ruby understood why. Pyrrha and Jaune had gotten pretty close at the dance, but Weiss hadn't really said anything that bad. Ruby decided to help her friend out.

"Weiss didn't mean anything bad, Pyrrha. I mean, so far none of us first leaders know chess."

"I know how to play," Aurelio said. "And I think Winchester knows how to play."

"How?" Blake asked, looking up from her book for the first time since she sat down.

"Because he comes from a noble family, like me."

Everyone did a double take accept Jaune, who just looked side to side. Yang spat out her drink, the spray hitting Blake who stared daggers and an apologetic Yang. Neptune was choking on a piece of pancake only to have Sage hit him on the back and restore breathing to him. Weiss's face was stuck I this open mouthed cocked eyebrow look. Everyone else just looked regular surprised. Ruby, sure her friend was joking, crossed her arms and grinned.

"If you're a noble, how come you act like a thug?" It was true that Aurelio often talked about his knowledge of the criminal underworld more than he should. Things like the Thieves Guild, the Assassins organizations, smugglers and pirates were all fair game with him. Ruby had always thought he was making things up, but Weiss had decided that he was a scoundrel. To be fair he was a scoundrel, they all knew it, but that only made the whole nobility thing hard to swallow in her opinion.

"Cause I didn't inherit nothing but my great-great-grandads lifestyle." Aurelio said, as if that answered everything. It answered somethings, but Ruby felt it could've answered more.

Before she could ask him what in the world his great-great-granddad did, the ten minute bell for first period rang.

"Time to go," Aurelio got up and made to leave before any of them could ask him any questions. "You guys better hurry if you want to get a look at the new teacher."

Ruby got up and followed after him shouting for him to wait for her.

A minute later the two of them walked into the classroom to find they were the first ones there. They saw the new professor sitting at his desk at the front of the room writing what Ruby assumed to be notes for class. Also sitting at the front of the room were professor Ozpin sitting in a chair against the wall and next to him was professor Goodwitch sitting with a clipboard in her hand. Trying to ignore them, Ruby went up to the new professor's desk to greet him.

"Hello, sir," she said, offering her hand to shake his. "My name is Ruby Rose and I'll be in your class."

The new professor looked up and it was then that she noticed the golden mask on his face. She thought it was cool and mysterious and went well with his white and black coat and blonde hair. He looked at her for a second during which she hopped he couldn't see through the confidence she was trying to fake. Then he took her hand with his and shook it.

"It's good to meet you, Ms. Rose," he said, his voice was deep, soft and smooth. "My name is Professor Gilded Arcadia. Welcome to my class. I hope you enjoy it. Now please take your seat."

Ruby smiled and nodded. She then turned to Aurelio and saw that he had this weird expression on his face. He was just squinting suspiciously at professor Arcadia and then looking over his shoulder, towards the hallways as if trying to see something, then looking at Ozpin.

"Is there something wrong," professor Arcadia stood up and addressed Aurelio. "If you need help you can talk to me. I keep an open door policy. We can even speak in private if you wish."

Ruby thought she heard him emphasize those last words a bit more than the others.

"I… thank you, sir." Aurelio finally answered. "I would like that."

With that Aurelio motioned for Ruby to head to their seats with him. When they sat down next to each other Ruby wanted to ask him what was wrong, but he gave a look that said not now. Then they just watched as their classmates walked into the classroom, some greeting professor Arcadia while others went straight to their seats. Finally the class was filled with first and second year team leaders. When the bell rang signaling the start of class professor Arcadia sat at his desk for ten seconds. When he got up to address the class everyone got quiet.

"Welcome to Tactics and Strategies. My name is Professor Gilded Arcadia." He looked from one side of the classroom to another. Then, in a somber tone he continued. "And I regret to inform you that sixty percent of you have just failed your first quiz in my class."


	3. Chapter 3

_**Authors note:**_ __ **Sorry for the delay, no regular update scheduales will be set up, but I'm not gonna stop posting. If you like, please give me a review. If you hate, please don't send hate.**

Chapter 3: Terms of Surrender

Ruby Pov

Ruby looked at professor Gilded with horror, wondering what he meant by that. Then she let her head slump forward onto the table in exasperation. Her head hit the table with a loud *thunk* that reverberated throughout the room. She heard a few other students snicker but she didn't care. She wasn't doing too well in this class when it was taught by the previous professor, now she had just blown it on their first day with a new professor.

"You are among the ones who passed my quiz Miss Rose."

Ruby lifted her head up and looked at the professors in the room. Professor Gilded was standing in front of his desk with his arms crossed, seemingly indifferent to what had happened (maybe that was just the mask), Professor Ozpin was grinning and shaking his head. Professor Goodwitch was starring daggers at her. If Weiss could replicate that look she'd be a thousand time more serious and scary.

"If you're done with the dramatics, Miss Rose," Professor Gilded snapped her out of her thought and she felt her face go red with embarrassment. "I can explain things."

Professor Gilded took a few steps forward and continued.

"Information is one of the most important commodities when in charge of a group, be it a four person cell, a forty count platoon or a forty thousand strong army. Having it can turn the scales in your favor while lacking it can get everyone on your side killed. Another advantage to be had is allies. This is especially vital for nations like the four kingdoms we live in. While one is under siege, the others can give aide. You may wonder what that has to do with today's quiz. In fact, it has everything to do with today's quiz."

He paused and looked around. Ruby looked around too. She saw that everyone else looked confused or disgruntled.

"A new professor means a new challenge. An unknown set of circumstances affecting your grades known as my personal biases. You had an opportunity to not only gain information on these biases and make a good first impression that could only help effect these in your favor. A clear strategic and tactical advantage that was lost by sixty percent of you. Furthermore, you failed to make contact with a new potential ally in this class. Greeting me would have been a step in the direction of making a good first impression which is vital when acting as an ambassador on behalf of your kingdoms. There wasn't even an excuse, a reason for you to avoid greeting me when you walked in. You had everything to gain and nothing to lose."

The Professor was about to continue but was interrupted by a second year in the back row.

"What does that have to do with killing monsters?! What is the point of such a ridiculous exercise?! How do information or diplomacy beat the Grimm?! It's not like they smart enough to strategize!" he said in a raised voice. Ruby looked at the three Professors in the room, waiting for one of them to tell him off. Right on que, she saw Professor Goodwitch open her mouth as if to do just that but before she could say anything she was stopped by Professor Gilded, who had signaled to her to let him handle it. His gaze had never left the student in the back, and Ruby was sure Professor Gilded was looking him in the eye, though it was hard to see through his masks eye-holes.

"The point is that you don't understand the point," his voice had not changed volume or anything. "In diplomacy, much like combat, you must strategically and tactfully choose your actions to avoid the worst outcomes and attain the best outcomes. In combat there are many layers of strategy, from the movements of an army to the movements of an individual these layers can stack upon each other to make a complex situation more complex. Especially when one takes into account all the minor details that can affect a situation to make it disadvantageous."

As Professor Gilded continued, Ruby tried to follow him. She understood what he was saying, for the most part. Something about being mindful of the little things that could trip them and their teams up. She looked to her left to see Jaune paying attention with a serious expression on his face and Suns sleeping face on his shoulder… huh… she turned to her right and saw Aurelio paying as much attention as Jaune and looking more sick than serious. That was odd, usually Aurelio would grin and ignore lectures. To see him paying attention was just weird.

"So," Professor Gilded had finished explaining their quiz. "To help you learn to use these skills we'll have use them. With the game of chess."

Professor Gilded had them form pairs as he passed out the boards. Ruby had been lucky enough to get paired with Aurelio, who was beginning to regain his composure. She looked to her left and saw Jaune paired with Coco Adele. She felt sorry for her friend because his opponent was a great team leader among the second years. Turning her back to Coco she faced Aurelio and prepared for the worst losing streak of her life.

Coco pov

Coco had faced some impossible odds during her two years at Beacon and never batted an eye or felt frustrated in the slightest. Such was what it took to become a huntress. The noodle who was kicking her rear in chess was the first opponent that she felt she couldn't beat. After losing the first two games in eight moves each she found her mistakes and corrected herself. She still lost the third game but in twelve moves. If she could keep it up she thought she'd have been able to beat him in their fourth match. Nope. Lost that one in six moves. Time for a new tactic.

"So... I saw a certain pic from the dance recently."

"Uhh..."

She watched with hidden glee as Jaune made his first mistake. Keeping her focus on the game and her distraction she took Jaunes queen. Planning her next sentence and move she watched Jaune scratch his head in frustration as he finally responded with real words.

"I was... uh, wearing that for Pyrrha." he said, his face the twin of a tomato.

"Oh my! I had no idea the famous Miss Nikos had such tastes. Scandalous!" she feigned shock and watched her plan continued to work as Jaune became more flustered and make another mistake. She took advantage of Jaunes state again as he tried to defend against her verbal onslaught. "Don't worry about that, by the way. I won't tell anyone. I just wanted to give you a tip about those shoes with that dress."

"N-no!" he was stammering, how cute. "It's not like that! I told Pyrrha that if she couldn't get a date to the dance I'd wear a dress."

"That is the dumbest and most insensitive thing you could have said to the only girl in this school who is crushing on you and hard." she said, now genuinely shocked at Jaunes brazen cluelessness.

"Not gonna lie, dick move, Jaune." Coco turned around to see the blonde guy with the eyepatch was the source of that comment with the girl in the red hood, Ruby she thought her name was, turned around looking at Jaune and nodding in agreement. She looked back at Jaune and saw he looked unamussed and ashamed.

"I'm trying to think of a way to make it right, ok."

"Not fast enough, it seems." she threw at him, not worried about politeness when she felt so ashamed to have lost to someone so clueless. Jaune just put his face in his hands and shook his head.

"I feel bad enough that I said that to her okay. Besides, she and I have a bigger problem. I don't think either of us knows where our relationship is after the dance and we're both too scared to ask the other."

"So then you need to grow a pair and be the one to ask!"

"As thrilling and interesting as your discussion is," Professor Arcadia cut their conversation short, sounding annoyed. "I'm afraid you made a fatal flaw in executing your plan. When distracting the enemy you must not become distracted yourself, Miss Adel."

Coco realized then that they had talked the class away and it was almost over. Then she saw the stares from the rest of the class she also realized that they'd been speaking loud enough for everyone to hear them. Goodwitch was giving them a stern glare while professor Ozpin looked unamused. Professor Arcadia continued talking, it seemed class was almost over and he wanted to make some closing statements about what they'd just done.

"Well, I hope you learned something today about simple strategies today, because that's what this game is for. It has been used to train generals, kings and strategists for years and will be your first level of simulation training. I expect you to play three game's a week with some one from this class and give me a single paragraph on what you learned and what you did wrong," he said, ignoring the groans from the class. "A little advice for the upcoming tourney. Don't show all your techniques and abilities during Goodwitchs class. You don't want potential opponents to gain too much knowledge of your playbook."

That seemed like a no-brainer to Coco. Wouldn't want to make it easier for their opponents. The Professor continued:

"Also, if you have any secrets you're keeping from your teams now is the time to come clean with your comrades. With your families coming to visit many of these secrets won't stay secrets for long. Better to save face by coming forward on your own than to be blindsided and left red in the face on visitation day."

Coco caught movement to her right as Jaune fidgeted nervously in his seat.

"That's all for today, be prepared to take notes next class. Mister Connors, if you'd stay after, please."

That Aurelio guy looked from the Professor to Jaune, then nodded once before the rest of them left the class. Coco decided to go with Ruby and Jaune to the cafeteria. They weren't her usual group but she figured whatever, they were the coolest freshmen at Beacon and Ruby was Blake's leader so again, whatever. She also wanted to annoy Jaune a little while they waited for their teams to finish class.

"So, what secrets are you keeping that had you fidgeting there at the end?" Ah, vengeance. A dish best served with an iced mocha latte. She saw Ruby look back and forth between her and Juane while holding a cookie that she didn't have a second ago... just how fast was she? Questions for later.

"Look, uh, Coco, right? This is something I feel I should tell my team first. No offense, but they deserve to be the first to know."

She nodded in acceptance but then went on: "Are you gonna have the 'us' conversation with Pyrrha first?" She realized she was playing a dangerous game. If she wasn't careful she'd become addicted to revenge. Jaune nodded.

"Seems only right," she said. Screw it, if it helped it helped Pyrrha she didn't care about revenge addictions. "In fact, you'll get your first chance thirty minutes from now, I suggest you do it then."

She saw him look away and when he looked back at her he nodded. Glad to see he was willing to get with the program Coco looked at Ruby and saw that she had a mouthful of cookies and an additional cookie in each hand... then decided that instead of the obvious follow up she'd ask what secrets she had. After swallowing her mouthful of cookies, Ruby answered:

"I dunno, I don't really have any real secrets. I guess I'll just have everyone on my team share stuff about each other. I mean, Yang's my sister, we know a lot about each other, but I don't think we really know anything about Blake and Weiss."

"I know what you mean," Coco admitted. "Even when you've bonded tightly with them, it feels like you never sit and talk with your teammates."

"No need for that on my team, Scarlet's a gossip."

A newcomer had come along with Aurelio in tow.

"Hey Sun."

"Don't 'hey Sun' me, Ruby," Sun looked a little angry and sounded very offended. "Do you guys wanna explain why you left me asleep after the last class?"

"He woke up at the tail end of my after class discussion with Professor Arcadia." Aurelio explained when they all looked confused. "He literally slept through class and our conversation. Professor Arcadia gave him a failing grade for today."

Everyone started laughing at that. Not a loud laugh, but Coco thought it was loud enough. As Sun continued to sulk they all settled into new conversations while they waited for their teams. It was the training three of JNPR who showed up first. As Coco watched Jaune ask Pyrrha to talk with him in private she wished them luck. Almost over her losses she was glad to see Jaune stop with his dumbassery.


	4. Chapter 4

Authors note: As you may have guessed we shall not be going by the Volume 3 cannon ending and shall instead substitute our own au ending for that. Thank you for your patience.

Chapter 4. Off your chest

Pyrrha pov.

As she followed Jaune, Pyrrha began to realize that they were heading to their usual training spot. She wondered what her leader wished to talk about, alone... on the roof... just the two of them. He probably wanted to discuss their recent difficulties communicating, she decided, nervousness creeping into her mind. She remembered how she'd wanted to talk to him but couldn't and how he had always seemed too nervous to start them off either. She thought that the stalemate had to end eventually, one way or another. She decided that if Jaune didn't bring it up in the conversation they were about to have then she would. She decided this just in time to walk into Jaune because she hadn't noticed he'd stopped. After she apologized they stood there, staring at each other for about half a minute before Jaune finally spoke to her.

"Sooo, uh, we need to talk," as he spoke his nervousness was obvious and it mirrored her own. She nodded in agreement.

"About the dance."

She nodded again.

"And what was said at the dance."

She nodded once again.

"And, uh, about how we feel about each other." His was face redder than her hair by this point and she was sure her face was just as red as his. She nodded a fourth time.

She watched Jaune open and close his mouth repeatedly, trying to find the right words, she assumed. All the while she held her breath as she waited for him to stop glancing back and forth between her and the sky and tell her what she hoped he would say. Finally, before she could pass out, Jaune did close to that.

"Pyrrha, I made a complete ass of myself before the dance and probably during too, and I'm sorry."

This caught her a little by surprise, but she responded, hoping he would say what she wanted to hear.

"Jaune, I accept your apology, but I wouldn't call you a complete ass. In fact I'd probably avoid using that at all. At least when it comes to you."

While she said this Jaune walked to the wall and leaned his back against it. She followed suit and leaned against it, next to him.

"I just... ugh," she listened to him stammer and try to find whatever words he was looking for, again. She too was finding it difficult to find words on her end. Before she could Jaune found his.

"I think what I want to ask now... is, I'm... where are we after the dance?" She turned to him, stunned that he'd finally gotten this far. "Um... I mean, can we be... uh haha, uh more than friends?"

She was speechless. Okay, not entirely speechless.

"Nothing would make me happier, Jaune, than to be more than friends with you." she said slowly, trying to keep calm with all the feelings of anxiety being replaced with relief and more anxiety, though she had to hold back a comment about how she was a little mad that he hadn't said this sooner.

"Wait, what, really?!" Jaunes surprise far too obvious. He'd need to work on his poker face for the tournament. "Uh, I mean... that's wonderful! Sooo... how much more um... than friends should we... should we become?"

She gawked at him for a second. The question had floored her.

"Wait, I thought you knew!" She really should have known better than to think things would go that smoothly.

"I'm sorry, Pyrrha, but I've never been more than friends with a girl. All I've got to go on is advice from my dad and my grandpa which hasn't really worked out that well." She watched him scratch his head while he tried to figure something out.

"So neither of us has any clue what we're doing." She admitted. The life of a celebrity fighter had not only deprived her of any social life but, by extension, also a love life.

Jaune nodded. They then stared at each other for what Pyrrha felt was a minute. Then they both started grinning at each other as they tried, futily, to not laugh. Eventually they were laughing so hard that Pyrrha was certain Professor Ozpin could hear them in his office. When they had stopped laughing Pyrrha became aware that they had slid down the wall they were leaning against into more of a sitting position. She was smiling lightly at Jaune who was grinning at her. Even now the awkwardness was threatening to return if they stayed silent. Then she had an idea.

"So if neither of us knows what to do, can we simply be, as Nora puts it, together-together?" She asked, trying really hard to salvage the situation.

"Sure, for now." Jaunes reply sent electricity down her spine. A full blown lightning bolt in fact. "But we're going to have to figure out what that means at some point."

She nodded.

"I know, but we can figure that out later and just enjoy being together-together, for now." She liked this idea. It gave them both time to figure out what in the hell they were doing. If she was being honest with herself, which she was, she really needed time to figure out how she was going to get around hers and Jaunes lack of knowledge when it came to love.

"I think we should probably go get ready for Professor Goodwitch's class." She could feel herself smiling as she said it. Sure, this hadn't gone the way she'd hoped and yet it had gone immeasurably better than she'd feared. She and Jaune knew how they felt about each other; they knew they wanted be together even if they had no clue how to move forward with that; they had even decided they would figure it out together-together. She'd put this one in the "Flawless Victory" column.

She had just gotten up when she heard Jaune say: "Wait, there's something... something else that I need to talk about."

She turned and saw Jaune had not left his spot on floor. He hung his head and had this guilty look on his face. She knelt back down next to him and put her hand on his shoulder. She nodded and urged him to continue: "Go ahead Jaune."

"It's- you remember earlier today when you asked about my family?"

She nodded. She remembered well how he had told her about his father and grandfather and how they had gotten sidetracked into a discussion on Valean politics.

"Well, there's something that I've never told you about my dad. In fact there's a reason why I never talk about him. I need to tell the team and be honest with you guys." he looked grim and serious as he said it.

"Tell us what, Jaune?"

Weiss pov.

She literally couldn't believe it. This was the worst. The absolute worst, of all time. She had learned to deal with many things about her teammates and friends at Beacon. She had learned to accept that younger Ruby was in charge; she had learned to ignore the fact that quiet Blake had once been a member of the group responsible for the deaths of some of her blood relations; she had even learned to live with Yangs lame puns and her teasing of other people in matters of romance. This however was the worst fucking thing she had ever had to endure.

"Did you really shoot him in the crotch from across town?" Yang asked the girl sitting next to her.

"Oh, ye of little faith but great cleavage and a sweat ass." the girl, Nadja Grunewald, responded.

"HOW IS THIS PROPER CONDUCT?!" She was at the end of her patience with these two.

"You're just jealous that you can't talk like me." Nadia remarked, never looking away from the cards in her right hand.

"Full House!" Nadjas moronic, ass-hole of a team mate Al Sanguine shouted as he set his cards on the table.

"Royal Flush." Weiss watched Nadja reveal hers.

"Fuck!"

"That makes 10 winning hands."

"10 STRAIGHT winning hands."

Weiss tried to calm down, but found she couldn't. Team AAANs lack of decency was something she couldn't get used to. They gambled in public; made rude remarks and sometimes overly sexual remarks casually; their leader, Aurelio, talked about the criminal underworld like he had first-hand experiences with it (she wouldn't have been surprised to find out that he did); Al Sanguine was a notorious ass-hole who said mean and hurtful things with every breath; Nadja Grunewald kept making sexual comments about Weiss to get a rise out of her; and Azure was very quiet and therefore the only member of his team with any decency that she'd seen. She really wished Ruby, Yang, and Blake would listen to her and distance themselves from team AAAN.

"Isn't Professor Goodwitch gonna flip if she sees you playing this again." Finally, Ruby had said something Weiss agreed with.

"Or Al saying anything." Blake added from behind a book.

"Haven't you learned yet?" Nadja was shaking her head. She brushed her dark brown hair out of her face with her right hand. "We never worry about the consequences of small things like this."

Weiss sighed as she tried to keep calm. She'd had to deal with this sort of behavior from them for the latter half of the semester. She turned her head and glanced at Team SSSN a few tables away. They were talking and joking around, she guessed by how they were laughing. She saw Neptune there and felt her stomach do a somersault. Why couldn't her team sit with them instead? At least then she could talk with Neptune. She was shocked out of her wishful thinking by Yang.

"I see someone's day dreaming about a certain bluenette." she said causing Weiss to turn to her and see her face light up with undoubtedly the most mischievous look ever to appear on a persons face.

"What?! No!" she really needed to keep her guard up. "I was just thinking about how nice it would be to sit somewhere we can have civilized conversations away from the degenerate scoundrel who refuses to reign in his teams bad behavior."

She gave Aurelio a scowl as she finished. He looked up at her for the first time since her team got there and sighed before responding.

"Fine. If it will make things more bearable for you, thus ending your bitching, I'll act like a team leader."

On the word "bitching" Weiss's jaw dropped. Never had anyone said something so insulting to her. She was so outraged she almost missed the reactions her teammates were having. Yang was trying to hide her amused snickering; Ruby had stopped eating mid-cookie to look wide-eyed back and forth between her and Aurelio; Blake had stopped reading and had her hand over her face.

"Alright team," Aurelio continued as if he'd done nothing. "I know we're all about fun and games during free time but there's been a serious violation of the only 3 rules we have in our dorm."

As Aurelio addressed his team Weiss made to strangle him, only to be stopped by Ruby who appeared in front of her with rose petals scattering everywhere. As the younger leader tried to calm her down Weiss continued to listen to Aurelio while thinking about how much she'd love to put Myrtenaster through his throat.

"I am of course talking about how Nadja keeps having sex with her girlfriends in our dorm."

Weiss's anger was forgotten as she immediately made a gagging sound. She could not fathom, could not articulate how absurd this was. How ludicrous, how rude, how shocking, how much more inappropriate Aurelio and his team had become. She looked at her teammates for their reactions.

Ruby had stopped trying to calm her down and was shaking her head back and forth saying "gross, gross, gross." Yang was banging her fist on the table while having a violent fit of laughter that had her sliding out of her seat. Blake had set her book down and was sitting there quiet with a wide-eyed, shocked expression while her bow twitched every second.

"Aw, C'mon. It's not that important of a rule," Nadja said, grinning like a devil.

"Wrong. Two nights ago Al was sleeping in the streets," Al nodded in agreement with his leader. "Do you realize how much more dangerous those streets are when he's set loose like that?" Al immediately stopped nodding and made a disgruntled face.

"What if he tries to walk in on them? Ya know whomever she's with will aim for his head." Azure chimed in more depressed sounding than anything.

"Exactly, you know how aggressive he gets during a concussion," Aurelio looked deadly serious as he said it. Weiss didn't understand nor care what he was going on about. "I don't care how often you fuck these ladies but do it somewhere else. If you can get permission you can even do it on Ozpins desk for all I care."

"No!"

Weiss finally stood, having recovered from her shock. Also, having finally put up with more than she could.

"I refuse to have to put up with this barbaric conversation. So long as team AAAN is here I'm not! Just... no!"

She stormed off caring not for the stares from everyone in the cafeteria. As she made her way to get her weapon for class she couldn't help but feel revolted by team AAANs conduct. Who discusses such inappropriate things so unashamedly, she thought as she grabbed Myrtenaster and started in the direction of Goodwitch's class. Apparently team AAAN, and how could her team condone such behavior?

Even as she thought that she regretted how she had chosen her words during her outburst and subsequent exit. She grabbed Myrtenaster as a thought popped into her head.

"I hope the others aren't at me after that..."


End file.
